“You Almost Married Her?” Millionaire’s Wife Mocked Her—Unaware of Who Just Arrived!
Chapter 6
Grace didn’t know who had made the payments.
But she remembered Laura’s fear.
“She kept saying someone was watching her.”
Emily felt a chill.
“Why didn’t she tell me?”
“Because she didn’t want you scared.”
That answer hurt.
Her mother had spent her final months protecting her.
Emily had always believed she was the one taking care of her.
Now she realized it had been both ways.
Grace gave Emily an old notebook.
“Your mother left this with me.”
Emily opened it.
Most pages contained medical notes.
The final pages were different.
Names.
Dates.
Company numbers.
And one sentence:
The money is not the secret. The person moving it is.
Emily looked at Jonathan.
“We need to find this person.”
They did.
The trail led to Martin Hale.
He agreed to meet them.
He arrived carrying a briefcase.
“I wondered when someone would finally ask.”
Emily stared at him.
“You knew?”
“I knew enough.”
“Then why did you stay silent?”
“Because I was afraid.”
“Of Charles?”
Martin nodded.
“Charles Sterling was powerful.”
“Is he responsible?”
Martin shook his head.
“I can’t say that.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t know.”
Emily appreciated the answer.
“What do you know?”
Martin opened the briefcase.
Inside were contracts.
Original versions.
Not copies.
He showed Emily the first.
A charitable development contract had been altered after Laura’s signature.
The altered version redirected funds.
“Who changed it?”
Martin looked at the document.
“The instruction came through my office.”
“From whom?”
He hesitated.
“Richard.”
Emily’s face changed.
Richard?
Martin immediately continued.
“But I don’t believe Richard understood what he was signing.”
Jonathan looked at him.
“Explain.”
“Richard was told the changes were temporary.”
“By whom?”
Martin closed his eyes.
“His father.”
Emily sat back.
So Richard had been involved.
But perhaps not knowingly.
That distinction mattered.
The evidence showed Charles had pressured Richard into approving certain transactions.
But it also showed Richard had failed to investigate.
He had signed.
He had benefited.
And he had remained silent.
Emily felt no satisfaction.
Only sadness.
She had spent years imagining Richard as the man who had simply abandoned her for money.
Now she was discovering something more complicated.
He had made choices.
Some were cowardly.
Some were wrong.
But he had not been the mastermind she expected.
Then Martin handed her one final document.
“This is why I stayed silent.”
Emily looked at it.
It was a transfer agreement dated eleven years earlier.
The beneficiary wasn’t Charles.
It wasn’t Richard.
It was Vanessa Sterling.
Emily’s stomach dropped.
